As a young lawyer, Richard Giovannelli said on this week’s Drinks With The Deal podcast, he received a key piece of advice from one of his mentors. “As a young professional in any field, you’re either going to be bored or scared,” said Giovannelli, who’s the lead corporate practice and industry partner at K&L Gates LLP in Charlotte, N.C.

“The sooner you’re scared, and the more time that you spend being scared, the better off you’re going to be in the long run, because that’s when you grow,” said Giovannelli, who goes by Rick. He’ll become co-chair of the firm’s management committee on July 1 and chair on July 1, 2026, in a move announced in May.

Conversely, older lawyers have to be comfortable handing work off, Giovannelli said. “Where we often see the friction is where a younger associate starts to have to manage someone else. We’ve tried to institutionalize having conversations with associates to say, ‘You could do this document for the 27th time yourself, or you could invest a little extra time in the person coming behind you to teach them how to do it. It absolutely will take you more time the first few times you do that because there’s a learning curve.’ But they won’t grow if they’re still doing the same things they were doing as first-year associates, and the only way to get out of that is by training and empowering the people behind them.”

Listen to the podcast with Rick Giovannelli below:

More podcasts from The Deal are available on iTunes, Spotify and on TheDeal.com.